Faith in Karius reaps rewards
Liverpool's goalkeeping woes have been a recurring theme for the past couple of seasons and this familiar scene was all set to continue into this season when the woefully-inadequate-at-critical-times Simon Mignolet was named as #1 Goalkeeper.
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Once Karius supplanted him, there were still a lot of moans from some sections of the Liverpool supporters who said that Loris Karius was not the type of starting goalkeeper they needed or deserved.But Klopp knew different.
He's always maintained his confidence in Karius and even said in the post-game press conference, "I would be the biggest idiot in world if Karius wasn't good". For most that would be enough, but some persist in saying that Klopp has gambled on this position for far too long and should be spending big on targets like Oblak from Atletico Madrid or Allisson from Roma in the Summer.
While those targets may still pan out, Karius has rolled up his sleeves and gotten down to the serious task of repaying Klopps' faith and more importantly, proving his capability between the sticks.
He pulled off a fine save from Mohamed Diame to show his quality. On a rare attack, Diame sent a well placed shot from around 20 yards, straight into the top corner. Unfortunately for him, that moment was also Karius’ best as he flew through the air and sent it wide to the delight of Reds everywhere.
Now that Liverpool finally have a "proper" keeper they can count on, will Simon Mignolet get a chance against Porto in an effectively redundant second leg at Anfield?
